36. Expanding

Novum was up with the sun and stretched. The bed that he was in was not in very good shape and he shook his head thinking to himself. I should have bought a bed while I was in the capitol. He would head to town soon and have the guy at the general store order him one, he looked over at the sleeping Rurik, or a few. He walked out and saw the Fang was laying down at the edge of the paddock looking at the goats with hunger. "Fang don't mess with the goats."

Novum's voice startled both the goats and Fang. When fang stood up the billy stood up and glared at him and then lowered his horns and charged towards him. The goat slipped under mid-rail of the fence and landed a hard blow on the surprised wolf. Fang turned to fight thinking the goat would hit and run but he was still there glaring at Fang ready to fight. With a growl that said he was not scared but really was Fang walked over towards Novum like it was his words that made his stay away from the goats. "Hey I warned you. Those things are meaner than any goat I have ever seen. And I warn you now those little pigs you have been thinking about are probably just as mean and they are going to get way bigger."

Fang chuffed like he did at the night before and kept walking with his head up high. "Careful pride goes before the fall my friend. Okay let's things started with some breakfast. If I get some chickens would you leave them alone?" Fang looked at him and twisted his head as if asking why he was talking to him like he could answer. "Yeah probably not. I will have to get a nice coop built and then I can get some. Okay back to breakfast."

Novum made a pan of oats and fried up some of the good organ meat from the evening before that he pulled up out of the cold cellar and tossed half the liver to Fang. He grabbed it and moved a short distance away to eat in peace. The rest of the food was just finishing up when Fang came back over. "After that bear liver I guess a deer liver was a little small." He tossed him a kidney at him, "that is all you are getting from me this morning. If you want anything else you need to go and find a squirrel or rabbit to eat."

Rurik came out. "Sorry about that. Guess I was more tired than I thought."

"Well when you stay up most of the night on guard it makes it hard to get up the next morning."

"Oh well I...."

"Don't worry about it. If any animal shows up here Fang and Noctis along with all of the new animals will let us know. And my coin lets me know when a person comes onto the property. Now the property is huge compared to before and a lot of times it will be just people wandering through the area but I will stay alert. Thinking back on it I should have left it broken down so I could pin point any body but that is way to many coins."

"Yeah there are good and bad with both options. I," Rurik paused for a few seconds, "I have never been in the woods like this before. I grew up in a mine and then I was in city for a couple of days before I got snagged. The trip over here was the first night time I had been outside of a secure area."

"How did you get to the capitol? Just curious."

"I was part of the dwarven trade caravan and they have a special gate since they trade with the capitol so much. I was supposed to meet some family there and got snagged up on my way to see them. Then I swore my life to you. And before you ask I let them know what happened and they all agreed with my choice."

"That is good to know. Listen I got it, it can be a little unnerving out here when you are not used to it. There was an item in the village that I think might make you feel better. If you want you can head to town and get it and anything that you might need for brewing or I can send some funds with the guys that should be here soon and they can bring it out tomorrow."

"It if is a small lamp that for little kids I might beat you to death."

Novum let out a hug belly laugh that he could not stop. "That was not it but that would be hilarious. But no that it is an alarm stone. You set it to you and the area that you want and it lets you know when someone or something will ill intent comes into the area. Actually with the coin covering such a huge area I might have him get a few of them."

As they discussed the idea of the coins Novum felt his coin get warm and he knew that he would have more people soon. "They will be here in a few minutes. And with the bear episode yesterday I did not get the expansions marked like I wanted. I had better get started."

"I will pull the first wagon over to the mine and get it unloaded. It will take a while with just me but you are trying to keep people who know about the mine at a minimum right now correct?"

"Yeah. I want to exploit it this winter when everyone is snowed in. The mining and forging will be great exercise and training when the snow gets deep. Honestly I will probably hunt a little more soon so that our stores are really full as well. And send some with the guys but first I need to get this expansion done."

Rurik gave him a nod and hitched up two of the horses to the wagon and was out of sight before the group arrived. Novum looked up when he heard footsteps but he was a little more than surprised when it was more than just his normal three workers. There was a group of people that he had seen somewhere but not in the village. He could not think of where.

"Baron why didn't you tell us about your title yesterday?"

"I did not care if you guys knew about it. Honestly I did not care if anyone in the town even knew about it. Other than taxes of course. Um who are all these people?"

A large man walked forward. "These are a few of the people that you saved the other day. We have been searching for you since you freed us. We finally found out that you were meeting with the Earl and went to his manor. The young Lady there told us that you were from Three Mines and that you had already returned. We pooled our money and got a carriage here the day after you left. We are here to serve you."

When he said that the entire group minus his three regulars dropped to a knee. "Let me guess you were all taken from far away out of a slum that you have no desire to return to and no family other than what is with you?"

"Yes my Lord."

"Dan, Joe, Al go get three of the horses saddled and get ready to make a supply run back to town. Tell the manager of the general store that I will let him use my wagons for free if he lets me buy past my limit. You might need to explain the situation to him. Also tell him that I will send a list with him and pay for another cart if he needs it. Dan you handle that. Joe go and talk to the mayor and see if the guards have a big tent that I can rent. I know that the store has one to buy and you are going to buy that but I don't think that one tent will be big enough." The three men went straight to the stable and got the horses ready. While they were doing that he made a list and a note for the mayor as well.

"Okay bug guy what is your name?"

"Mike my Lord."

"Okay Mike I am assuming that since you spoke you are the appointed leader if you wanted the job or not." Mike smiled at Novum. "Okay so here is what I am going to need. First off I am not asking for a bunch of people to live and work here for free that is ridiculous. But I will pay well for those that do work. And all kids that live here will be required to go to the school in the village when they are old enough. They will not work they will learn. If they help with things when they are here that is fine but seriously they need to be at the school."

"I also need a list of every adult here and what they are best at. If some of the younger adults are not sure they can apprentice under one of you guys or I will try and arrange things for them in town. Now as you heard I am working on a few things since I was not expecting you I was not aware of the situation so I am trying to make things happen as quickly as I can." Dan walked up and Novum handed him a list and a pouch of coins. Without a word he mounted up with the other two and they headed for town. "Now Mike what is it that you do?"

"I worked the woods at my last village. I was not great at the final work but I could take trees down faster than anyone else in the area. I was also a hunter by necessity. Not a lot of farm land so we had to hunt for food."

"That is good to know. Anyone else here work in lumber?"

A father and son duo raised their hands. "We were in the trade my Lord but we do not have any of our tools."

"That is fine come on up here." Novum grabbed his bag and pulled out some high quality tools and all three men whistled. "There are some nice trees in that small grove over there. Go and start taking them down. We are going to have to get some land clear so that we can start putting up some houses. Just take them down and clear the limbs. I will come and assist in turned them into the boards that we need." The three men grabbed the tools and headed for the grove without a word.

"Okay who here has specific skills and who had general skills?" A young woman raised her hand. "Yes?"

"My Lord what is a general skill and what is a specific skill?"

"Those three had specific skills that are all lumber jacks. There are also miners, forgers, and things like that. Growing up on a farm and being able to do all kinds of things are general skills. So general skill will go on my right and specific skills will go to my left."

Almost everyone that was left when to his right a few went to the left and the young girl was stuck in the middle. She was starting to tear up a little. "It is okay young lady. What is your name?"

"Mary. Okay Mary what did you do before you were captured?"

"Well I grew up on a farm so I have a few general skills but mostly I cooked for the family and the workers. I even sold my bread in town on occasion. The baker talked about taking me as an apprentice."

"Then you are definitely on the left. Anyone else here only cook even though I mentioned a farm?" Two more ladies raised their hands. "Okay you go ahead and move over here as well. Now for the general group. I am going to have you split again. Plants on the left and animals on the right."

The group split again and Novum was glad to see that there were a few people that had animals. "Okay good. Now for the growers, I have a late garden right here and as you can see a few things are starting to come up." He pulled some more tools out of his bag and passed them out. "Go ahead and get it cleaned up and start expanding it a little bit at a time as you can. Now as you saw I have a few horses, some goats and some redback hogs. There are also two steers one for this year and one for next. But given the change in the situation I will see about getting some more. I would like for you guys to look over the animals and make yourself familiar with them and then start digging the holes necessary to expand the paddock and the sty. I will also get some lumber ready so that we can build a coop. Oh and before I forget the goats are really mean."

Novum was about to move on to the specific skills when he heard a small voice yell, "puppy" and fear gripped his heart as he did not know how Fang would react. He was about to pick the kid up when Fang lunged forward and knocked the kid down. He was about to grab him and pull him off the kid when he heard giggles from under the pile of fur. Fang was licking him all over his face. Novum blew out a breath of relief. A young mom came out of the group and Fang stopped licking and growled at her. "Fang that is her cub. Get back." Fang quickly stepped back. "I apologize he had a bit of a protective streak."

"That is amazing. Thank you Fang. Jimmy come back here you can play with the puppy later."

Novum reached down and scratched Fang behind the ear. "Good boy." He then turned his attention to the people with specific skills. "Okay ladies I will start with you. I do not have a lot of stuff to cook with yet. I will see about getting you something soon but since it was only me I did not bother with the rest of it. I will build a cookhouse soon. But I do have a storage cellar as well as a smokehouse. Right now there is only a deer and a bear for you to work with. They are both still in the smokehouse so I will have to get something fresh."

"That would be my job, my lord. I was a hunter and trapper before."

Another man raised his hand. "Same with me my lord. I was raised on a river and trapped more than I hunted though."

"That is fine. I only have a bow and a crossbow." The young man raised his hand.

"I traded an necklace for a bow so I am good for that sir. They never took it for some reason. Found it a long time ago. Actually glad I kept it until now it worked out."

"So it was special to you?"

"Nope just something I acquired. Honestly I am not even sure where I got it any more."

"Then I will let you barrow this one until I can get you something. This one is very valuable so be careful with it. Also just so the two of you know I own the lake that is straight north. So hunt, fish, and trap as you see fit. But hopefully get a deer or two back here soon so these fine ladies can get started." He handed the bow and some arrows to the man without one and he also pulled out a couple of fishing poles. The two men headed north discussing locations and the cooks went to the smokehouse and cellar to figure out what was on hand and how long it would last.

There was one man left. "My Lord I was a miner and had managed to forge a few of my own tools. I am not sure that I would be much help with any of those things but I will work wherever you need me."

"Can you keep a secret?"

"With my very life sir."

"Then I have just the place for you. Follow me."